March 8, 2010

• So the 82nd Academy Awards ended with “the Hurt Locker” beating out “Avatar” for Best Picture of 2009. I’m okay with that result, although I would have voted for “Up In The Air” or “A Serious Man” if I was in the Academy. What’s killing it for me are all the people on the internet celebrating and boasting about how “The Hurt Locker” beat out “Avatar.” It’s like “F U James Cameron” or “hahahaha Avatar lost!” What gives people? Wow, why so much hatred for “Avatar?” It’s not like it’s a horrible movie. I personally found “Avatar” amazing in the sense that it DID break boundaries on how a movie could be made, plus I appreciate how Cameron pretty much created a whole world and reality in Pandora and the Na’vi, as well as improve upon how to film in CGI and 3D effects.

  One can argue about “Avatar’s” unoriginal script all they want, but originality is a rare thing nowadays. Even stalwarts like “Up,” “District 9,” or (yes even) “The Hurt Locker” took unoriginal plot directions. Even one of the movies that I wished won; “Up In The Air,” had some unoriginal moments. Back in 1977, there were people who thought “Star Wars” wasn’t original either, and we know how that turned out. If a movie in the best picture category needs to be lambasted for unoriginality, it’s “The Blind Side.” Just think about this… I bet there are movies that you already love that also falls under the “unoriginal and predictable” category…

  I could also argue that there’s another reason “The Hurt Locker” won, and it’s not necessarily because it deserved it. When it comes to the Academy Awards, campaigning for a vote is everything. In fact one of the producers for “The Hurt Locker” got in trouble (banned) for going overboard for this very reason. These past weeks leading up to the Oscars, we’ve been swamped with non-stop promotions for “The Hurt Locker,” while I thought the rest of the films were decently low key about it. Campaigning and politics goes a long way in the Academy, even if there are good intentions to vote based on actual film making merit. Just look at “Shakespeare In Love” winning best picture in 1998 as the best example of this.

  “The Hurt Locker” deserving to win Best Picture over “Avatar” is still debatable as far as I’m concerned (“Up” probably deserved it more). Besides being a representation of the generation it was made in, Best Picture needs to go to a movie that shows advancement in film making, and I believe “Avatar” really broke a lot of new ground for the future of this art form. Yes it was predictable, but it was done really really really well.

  For the people who hate “Avatar,” I hope it’s because of actual “real” reasons, and not just because it’s a really popular movie that is “cool to hate on.” If you are glad that “The Hurt Locker” won, then please watch the movie! It only made $21+ Million in the box office, so show it your support as it IS a good movie.

  P.S. go see “Jarhead” too while you’re at it.

  RT @ThatChrisGore –
  “Two years from now I’m going to ask all of you who won the Oscar for Best Picture two years ago… and not one of you will remember.“
  “And the award for Most Out-of-Touch Awards Show goes to… the OSCARS!“

  • 2:03 am
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